1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to telecommunications, and more particularly to a modular software architecture.
2) Description of Background Art
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a communications network 100 according to the prior art. The communications network 100 includes a public switch telephone network (PSTN) 110 coupled to an Internet Protocol (IP) network 120 by a media gateway controller and media gateway (MGC/MGW) 130. The communications network 100 also includes a plurality of integrated access devices (IAD) 140, a plurality of computers 160, and a plurality of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) telephones 170 coupled to the IP network 120. Additional conventional telephones 150 and computers 160 may be coupled to each IAD 140.
PSTN 110 can be, for example, a conventional switchboard station for connecting conventional telephones 150 to allow parties to make telephone calls and transmit voice and other data. IP network 120 is a network, such as the Internet, that is capable of transmitting electronic data packets in any of a number of forms and that can provide access to a variety of Internet services. The PSTN 110 is accessed directly with conventional telephones 150, and the IP network 120 can also be accessed directly through specially designed computers 160 and SIP telephones 170. The IP network 120 can also be indirectly accessed with conventional telephones 150 and computers 160 through IAD 140 which serves as an intermediary.
MGC/MGW 130 merges the two networks 110 and 120 by providing a translation mechanism that allows for the transfer of information between the two networks 110 and 120. Traditional MGC/MGW 130 architecture uses circuit switches to provide the translation mechanism. Typically, however, implementing circuit switches in an MGC/MGW 130 architecture has required being dependent on a single vendor for software, hardware, and applications in one proprietary package. Customizing an MGC/MGW 130 architecture of circuit switches is, therefore, frequently slow and expensive.
An alternative MGC/MGW 130 architecture employs a softswitch, an open-standard software solution to network integration. Specialized protocols such as SIP, Signaling System Number 7 (“SS7”) and Call Processing Language (“CPL”) have evolved in order to provide optimal control of intrinsic features in softswitch-based MGC/MGW 130 architectures. Because these protocols are specialized, however, using them generally can be cumbersome.
Despite the availability of softswitches, many functions such as account management, billing, call forwarding, etc. remain based on PSTN 110, limiting the flexibility of the network. What is needed is a system that can overcome the disadvantages in the prior art.